Improvement in skates



C. W. JENKINS.

n Skates. l No 145 349 A Patented Dec. 9,1873.

mine/.5565 if UNITED STATES PATENT' orrron.

CHARLES YV. JENKINS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SKATES.`

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 145,349, dated December 9, 1873; application filed July 1, 1870.

To all whom fit may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES W. JENKINS, of the city and county of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skates 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

My invention is intended to enable the skater to perform rapid revolutions upon a xed point or pivot in the ice without producing a large hole or recess therein.

I will proceed to'describe what I consider the best means of carrying out my. invention, and will afterward designate the points which I believe to be new therein.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this speciiication.

Figure l is a side elevation of my improved skate. Fig. 1 is a top view or plan of the extreme front portion. In this view the position of the front of the top or foot plate is indicated by a dotted line, and the portion below is alone represented in strong lines. The object of this gure is to show the rounded contour of the edge of the iron or runner at the front, with the chisel-like form of the pivot or spur projecting therefrom. Fig. 2 is a crosssection of the entire skate on the line S S in Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

All the parts may be steel.

A is the iron or runner; B, the top or footA plate; C C, threaded studs fixed in the footplate B, and projecting downward; and D D are nuts fitted on the studs C. E E are clamps, formed and mounted as represented, and Gr is a stout screw, adapted to draw these clamps forcibly together. The studs C G are received in slots in the clamps, and by tightening the nuts D D thereon the clamps are very firmly set. These clamps maybe similar in every respect to those commonly known as the New York Club Skate,77 and set forth in the patent of O. Gr. Brady, of 1862, and various others, except that the external angle at the lower and outer edge of each clamp should be sharp and adapted to catch in the ice, and serve as a sort of auxiliary runner whenever the skate is somuch inclined as to cause it to touch the ice. I esteem it well, not only to make this edge sharp, but to form the clamp of steel at this point, and to round the front and rear edges a little, so as to present no .angle to interfere with the forward or backward movement, while the clamp will serve, to the extent of its limited breadth, as an auxiliary runner, allowing an easy motion forward and backward, but offerin g great resistance to a side movement upon the ice. l form the toe of the runner with a spur, A, adapted to form a pivot or point, on which the skater lnay spin around in performing' what are known as toe-movements. To properly produce this spur with the use of dies for striking or cutting out the runner, I give the dies the proper form for the outline here represented, and then round the surfaces of the runner adjacent thereto above and below, as represented in Fig. la. I esteem it important that the surfaces immediately adjacent to the spur Ashall be thus rounded, and shall be adapted to rest easily and to turn freely on the ice while supporting the weight, or a great portion of the weight, of the skater, without excavating a large hole in the ice. If the spur were formed alone, without such a shoulder on each side, a few `spins would excavate a large hole in the ice. The proper rounding and smoothing of the edges of the runner above and below may be effected by any suitable machinery, or by tiles or other ordinary tools by han( .It is import-ant that this spur A be at such height as to be out ofthe way in ordinary skating; also that it be formed about as represented, so as to avoid hooking into and catching in the other skate in performing various fancy evolutions.

Having now fully described my invention, with what I consider the best means of carrying it out in practice, I claim- 1. A skate having a point or pivot, A', on

'the toe, adapted to serve in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. A skate having a pivot-point on the toe, with one or more shoulders adjacent, so as to catch in the ice and support the skaterv in performing toe-1novements, as herein specified.

3. The toe-point A', with the rounded shoulders on the edge of the iron or runner adjacent thereto7 when constructed and arranged, relatively to the main body ot' the skate-runner7 substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.

4. The sharp-cornered skate-clamps E E, mounted adjustably at the sides of skates, and adapted to perform the double funotions of attaching the skate securely to the foot, and also of serving as auxiliary runners when the skate is greatly inclined, substantially as herein speeied. A

' C. WV. JENKINS. Witnesses C. C. LIVINGs,

WM. O. DEY. 

